Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Cyprus Competition:
2011 - 1st Award
Architect: Elina Pattichi
Client: The Municipality of Pafos City
This proposal for a footbridge on the Tasos Papadopoulos Avenue won the first prize in the competition in Pafos, Cyprus.

The design of the footbridge ensures safe pedestrian and cyclist circulation between the adjacent schools and the residential areas. It also creates a public landmark for this problematic boundary between the adjacent neighborhoods because of the wide avenue.

The unique characteristic of this proposal is that the construction method aims to integrate the bridge’s circulation with the support system of the footbridge. The stairs and the ramps become an integral part of the footbridge support system and are sculpted together with the main horizontal deck (95 meters long and 3-6 meters wide). So the footbridge behaves as a curved cantilever. This sculpting method is highlighted by the transformation of the landscape as the bridge foundation pushes the ground to create the steps and sitting areas on the ground. The circulation on the ground determines the landscape design with sitting areas.

In the middle of the bridge, the corridor becomes wider while the hole pattern becomes denser. This gradient of the pattern is a result of Grasshopper which aims to highlight in a macro-scale the circulation intersection in the middle of the bridge and in a micro-scale the position of the holes on the metallic panels which decrease the panel’s heat capacity, weight and wind loads and create positions for the lighting on the ground.

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